Summer Lovin 1.0

I have to admit, after spending a few weeks in paradise, I felt some post vacation blues after we returned. It didn’t help either that it took a week before my food allergies was gone and I felt normal again.

Being at the beach or doing some sort of water activity for almost a month, will leave you feeling a little blue after you come home from your honeymoon. Good thing I have plenty of recaps to do, it makes me happy browsing thru all the pictures.

What I’ve done to help with the post vacation blues is to surround myself with things I love.

One of the things I love is eating fresh summer produce, like these sweet as candy strawberries from the farmers market.

I have frozen strawberries stashed in my freezer all year long for smoothies and such, but they are never the same as the fresh ones. The juices don’t squirt out when I bite into the frozen-but-defrosted strawberries.

They even made into my daily lunch salad.

I start out with a few handful of fresh spinach as the base.

Then I massage the spinach leaves with tuna salad. To make the tuna salad, I drained canned tuna and mix it with mayonnaise, mustard and salt + pepper. I prefer to get my hands dirty and massage the tuna into the spinach (rather than tossing them) so that the salad evenly coats each spinach leaves.

I then topped the salad with shredded carrots (great texture and crunch provider), fresh sliced strawberries, feta cheese and toasted sunflower seeds. Toasting the seeds brings out the nutty flavor even more.

Fresh strawberries add a sweetness that compliments that saltiness of feta cheese and tuna salad. The toasted nuts provides healthy fats and keeps me full until my mid afternoon snack

I love this combo.

To help stay cool during lunch time, I have been making mocktails every chance I get.

I use seltzer water and add juice to the mix. Currently, I am enjoying POM’s Pomegranate Mango juice.

POM’s mango juice is tart and sweet tasting. I find it too sweet if I drink it straight so I usually dilute it with some kind of bubbly water. There’s only a slight mango taste and I wished it tasted more like mango than pomegranate. But, it’s not called mango juice after all.

I have been enjoying it as a refreshing drink after a hot day outside.

Summer lovin’ in a glass.

What have you been (summer) lovin’ so far?

I’m such a visual person and anytime I’m around colors, I’m happy. I have been lovin’ all the pretty flowers, the vibrant colors I see at the farmers market, including all the fresh fruits. I love seeing the bright summer outfits whenever I am out and about.

It is always SO tough to come back from vacation! Especially one as awesome as yours!! I love the idea of massaging the tuna salad into your sandwich. I might need to try that with my new chicken salad!! I just love summer overall. Its my most favorite season. The heat, the humidity…I <3. Peaceful summer morning outdoor workouts, icy beverages, fresh fruit & veggies, flip flops, sun dresses…ah!

Totally… frozen berries are yummy but having them fresh at seasons peak is just the bessssst! ❤ so far this summer i've been loving my pesto veg kabobs on the grill and drinking lots of icy cold kombucha and iced black coffee! ❤

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